Reclining-chair.



No. 731,456. PATENTED JUNE 2a, 1903.

F. c. HODGES. I

-REGLINING CHAIR.

APPLICATION FILED JULY'3. 1901.

N0 Monnn.

INVENTOR am" RNEK n: NOF'RKS versus 420, Pnoroumn. washmamu, u. c.

UNITED STATES Patented June 23, 1903.

PATENT @rrrcn.

FRANK C I'IODGES, OF SYRACUSE, NEW YORK.

SPECIFICATIQN forming part of Letters Patent No. 731,456, dated June 23, 1903.

Application filed July 3, 1901. Serial No. 66,986. (No modeLl To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FRANK O. HODGES, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, in the State of New York, have invented new and useful Improvements in Reclining-Chairs, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of this invention is to provide a reclining-chair which shall allow the back of the chair to be adjusted to diiferent angles of inclination without liability of disturbing the seat in its position. The rigid maintenance of the seat in a uniform plane during the aforesaid adjustment of the back is specially desirable for invalids use, inasmuch as it afiords more perfect and convenient control of said adjustment;

To that end the invention consists in the combination of a rigid base, the seat secured stationary on said base, the prolonged armsupports and back both pivoted to the rigid base, the arms pivotally connected to said support and back, and means for locking the back adjustably in its angle of inclination, all constructed and combined to allow the back to be adjusted in its inclination without liability of disturbing the seat from its position, as set forth; and the invention also consists in the combination, with the aforesaid structure, of means for more positively retaining the back of the chair in its various adjusted positions and of a foot-rest secured stationary to the prolonged arm-supports and which rigid foot-rest affords to the occupant of the chair a more effective foothold to assist him in the adjustment of the back of'the chair, all as hereinafter described, and illustrated in the annexed drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical section taken centrally between the two arms of a chair embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same with portions broken away to expose some of the more important parts of the chair. Fig. 3 is an enlarged side view of the device for locking the back in its adjusted position, and Fig. 4. is a section on line X X in Fig. 3.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

A represents the base of the chair, which basemay be of any suitable construction to I the base A.

render it rigid, preferably formed of front and rear legs a, a, framed together by means of intervening rails b b and b b.

B denotes the seat, which may also be of any suitable style or construction to allow it to be secured stationary to the top of said base.

0 represents the back of the chair, the two side rails c o of which are pivotally connected at their lower ends to the rear legs (1. either direct or by means of intervening pivoted links or'straps, as shown at d.

D D represent the arms, which are pivotally connected at their rear ends to the side rails c of the back and attheir front ends to the prolonged supporting-rails e, which are likewise pivotally supported on the upper ends of the front legs a. The pivoted con- 7o nections of said arms and supporting-rails may be made by intervening pivoted. straps, as shown at d. I

f denotes the foot-rest, which I rigidly attach tothe lower ends of the prolonged armsupports, which rigid attachment is preferred for the purpose hereinbefore explained.

For locking the back 0 in its desired position I employ a stay-rod g, which is connected at one end'to the upper end of one of the So arm-supports e and passes with its opposite end through an aperture in a lug h, fastened to the lower end of one of the side rails c of the back. A set-screw vi, passing through a screw-threaded channel in the said lug and 8 engaging the rod g, clamps the said rod securely in the lug h, as shown in Figs. 3 and 4 of the drawings. Said rod is thus prevented from moving in either direction.

To facilitate the movement of the back cause it to draw the lower ends of the arm- I00 supports 6 with greater or less force toward I do not wish, however, to be limited to said form of the spring, as it is susceptible of modifications. The most essential feature of the spring is the adjustability of its tension, which permits the back 0 to be balanced, so that it requires comparatively no exertion of the occupant of the chair to move the back to any desired position. The foot-rest being rigidly attached to the prolonged arm-supporting rails e, which move in unison with the back, causes the said footrest'to remain in a uniform position in relation to the back in its various angles of inclination and is thus always convenient to the occupant of the chair. When the spring Z is made spiral-shaped, as shown and preferred by me, I pivot a strut u to the under side of a bar u, fastened to the upper portion of the base A, which strut bears on top of the spring and maintains the front end portion thereof at a proper angle in relation to the rails e to allow the spring to exert its tension with the necessary efficiency on said rails when the back 0 is tilted, as represented by dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

What I claim is The combination of the rigid base, the seat secured stationary to said base, the prolonged arm-supports and back both pivotally connected to thestationary base, the arms pivoted to said supports and back, the foot-rest attached stationary to said prolonged armsupports, a spiral spring connecting the lower ends of said supports to the aforesaid base, means for adjusting the tension of said spring, and a strut pivoted to a stationary bar on the upper portion of the base and bearing on top of the spring as and for the purpose set forth.

FRANK G. HODGES. [L. 8.]

Witnesses: I

J. J. LAASS, H. B. SMITH. 

